Recently, the Australian Minister for International Development and the Pacific Concetta Fierravanti-Wells criticized Chinese aid to the Pacific for “taking on debts they could not afford to repay” and constructing useless infrastructure.

“We just don’t want to build a road that doesn’t go anywhere,” Senator Fierravanti-Wells told Pacific Beat. “We want to ensure that the infrastructure that you do build is actually productive and is actually going to give some economic benefit or some sort of health benefit.”